Perhaps the time has come
that all impediments and hurdles will be effectively dealt with in the
forth coming 12th SAARC Summit

By QAZI FAZLI AZEEM,
Student Arena MultimediaJan
05 - 11, 2004

Each year we eagerly await Blockbuster American
movies, which try to outdo previous releases in terms of Special effects
and Cinema techniques. Movies like "Matrix", "Hulk",
"Armageddon", "Terminator 2 & 3" and "Lord
of the Rings" would not have made such a deep impact on our
entertainment lifestyles if they were made without computer generated
Graphics. Our expectations for the next wave of cinema hits have been
raised so high that we have started judging action movies by the amount
of Special effects, digital effects and stunts.

If you ask anyone why they prefer seeing foreign
movies and channels instead of local ones, the answer is quite
obvious... our film and television industry is not using enough 3D
Computer graphics, mainly because of the belief that they are expensive
to create. This is no longer the case as a high-end 3D animation setup
like a Silicon Graphics machine used to cost more than 15 lakh rupees,
but recent setups like an AMD Athlon system with 1 Gigabyte of DDR Ram
and an ATI Radeon Video Card will do the job just fine for less than 1
lakh rupees.

Now western production houses are creating animated
movies, which are entirely made up of 3D graphics. The special effects
in revolutionary movies like "Matrix" and "Final
Fantasy" could not have been created without using sophisticated 3D
software, namely 3D Studio Max and Maya, both which are being used in
Pakistan to create the next generation of Television advertisements.

From a very young age, I wanted to create the same
effects that I saw in awe-inspiring science fiction movies like
"Star Wars" and "Star Trek". Recently I found out
that almost all of the special effects for such movies and television
shows were done in Max and Maya. Infact, Habib Zagarpour, the chief 3D
animator of Lucasarts (the company behind "Star Wars") used
Maya for almost all of the effects in "Star Wars 1 & 2".
The days when mathematicians and scientists were hired to use special
effects software are now over. Now artists can be taught how to use 3D
software, as they are both intuitive and fun to use.

Advanced 3D software like Maya costs about $4000 for
the full production version, but an entirely free version of the
software is available for download at their website www.alias.com. This
trend has caught on with other 3D software houses that are now releasing
Personal Learning Edition (PLE) versions of their expensive software.
The PLEs are exactly the same as their pricy counterparts, but usually
cannot save files. However, this is an excellent opportunity for
students to learn advanced 3D animation software at their own leisure.

Maya is the world first 3D modeling and animation
software that comes with built-in methods for creating cloth, fur (hair)
and particle effects. Other 3D software support Polygon (geometrical)
and Nurbs (smooth Bezier curves) modeling, but Maya is the first to
offer Subdivision modeling, which is a mixture of the best properties of
both Polygons and Nurbs. With Maya, you can model and animate an insect,
and apply the insect's properties to group of animateable particles, to
get the swarm of insect's effect as seen in "The Mummy" and
"Scorpion King". Highly accurate motion capture can be applied
to models through industry supported motion and facial expression
equipment. This means that not only do the 3D models look real, but they
also move realistically, mimicking actual human expressions, as seen in
Disney's animated movies "Monster's Inc" and "Finding
Nemo".

The time invested in learning will pay off
exponentially; some of the highest paid jobs in the world are of 3D
modelers and animators. To prove my point, the only industry in the
world, which increased its revenue after September 11 is the 3D, powered
computer games industry, which jumped from $3 billion to $4 billion.

Open your television and see the amount of channels
which broadcast all sorts of programs throughout the year, what you
don't realize is that there is a talented team of multimedia
professionals behind every successful Advertisement, TV show, Drama and
Movie. We have some of the most talented professional and artists in
world that can make a name for themselves both in Pakistan and abroad,
all they have to do now is jump on the 3D bandwagon and get
professionally trained before other nations get too far ahead.

AUTHOR'S INTRO:

www.arena-defence.com/staffprofile.html
(portfolio is available on this address)

QAZI
FAZLI AZEEM/Student Arena Multimedia (Maya), Second Year, BS
(Computer Science), University of Karachi. Has worked for 5 years as a
Graphic Designer with Printing Impressions, an offshoot of the parent
Karachi Type Foundries (KTF Group). Personally handled clients like
FPCCI, ABB, PSO, Hamdard, Supernet, Exide, University of Karachi,
National Tiles, National Textile Mills, Rotary Pakistan and Red Crescent
Pakistan. Has also completed Internships with IBM Pakistan and AT&T
Pakistan, both in the Network Services Departments. Has received Awards
from the University of Karachi, M. A. Jinnah University, Suparco,
Philips Pakistan, ITCN-Asia, ACM CS-KU, British Council Pakistan,
English Speaking Union, CAMS School, Lyceum School, Fast ICS and the A.
Q. Khan Research Laboratories (Islamabad). Qazi Fazli Azeem is a student
member of the Association for Computing Machinery, USA (www.acm.org) and
has served as Chairman of the Special Interest Group for Software
Engineering at the Department of Computer Science, University of
Karachi. Specialized fields are: Print Media Graphics, Network Security,
Event Management, Software Engineering, Numerology and ancient
Middle-Eastern History.